OpGen, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Ares Genetics, which strives to become a leader in bacterial genomics and AI-powered prediction of antimicrobial resistance, is expanding its strategic collaboration with Sandoz, aimed at driving cutting-edge digital solutions in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance, and to that end has extended its collaboration agreement until January 31, 2025.
- Extended existing master services agreement with Sandoz, to develop digital platform for development and life cycle management of antibiotics, to January 31, 2025
- Both parties strengthening focus on antibiotic stewardship and planning to engage in AMR surveillance and efforts to repurpose existing antibiotics
- Collaboration focuses on next-generation sequencing (NGS) and AI-assisted bioinformatics solutions for surveillance and drug repurposing efforts
ROCKVILLE, Md., April 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OpGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPGN, “OpGen”), a precision medicine company harnessing the power of molecular diagnostics and informatics to help combat infectious disease, announced today that its subsidiary, Ares Genetics (Ares), which strives to become a leader in bacterial genomics and AI-powered prediction of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), is expanding its strategic collaboration with Sandoz, aimed at driving cutting-edge digital solutions in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and to that end has extended its collaboration agreement until January 31, 2025.
The extension of the existing master services agreement with Sandoz reflects both companies’ recognition of the critical importance of surveillance data to inform better prescribing and use of antibiotics – a central component of the global AMR response strategy.
In a separate press release Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor said, “Antibiotics are the cornerstone of modern medicine. AMR, which is now estimated to directly account for nearly 1.3 million deaths worldwide every year, is an unprecedented threat to global public health. As the world’s leading provider of generic antibiotics, our goal at Sandoz is to play a key role in overcoming this growing threat. This collaboration is a key step towards that goal, allowing us to take the fight directly to AMR by using cutting-edge big data and AI approaches combined with traditional data sets. By combining our respective skillsets, we believe we can not only use diagnostic and surveillance data to help healthcare professionals make better diagnoses, but also expand our options to treat AMR in the future, by targeted repurposing of key antibiotics. Our ultimate goal is both simple and radical: to ensure we get the right medicine to the right patient at the right time.”
During the initial stage of the collaboration, Ares has developed a digital anti-infectives platform, combining established microbiology laboratory practices with advanced bioinformatics and AI methods to support the identification of effective antimicrobial compounds or compound combinations to address critical pathogens, which Sandoz can in turn leverage to drive portfolio and commercial decisions.
In the upcoming next phase, both collaboration parties intend to focus further on antibiotic stewardship by enabling genomic surveillance for resistant pathogens, using Ares’ next-generation sequencing (NGS) and bioinformatics technologies. Financial details are not being disclosed at this stage.
“Such diagnostic and surveillance data not only have the potential to empirically inform antibiotic stewardship today,” commented Dr. Arne Materna, CEO of Ares Genetics, “but also hold the potential to expand our options in treating AMR in the future. Supplying up-to-date AMR data to the Ares digital anti-infectives platform promotes the discovery of effective conventional antimicrobial compounds and combinations thereof, and may ultimately allow their targeted repurposing as treatment alternatives that could help preserve last-resort therapies.”
About OpGen, Inc.
OpGen, Inc. (Rockville, MD, USA) is a precision medicine company harnessing the power of molecular diagnostics and bioinformatics to help combat infectious disease. Along with our subsidiaries, Curetis GmbH and Ares Genetics GmbH, we are developing and commercializing molecular microbiology solutions helping to guide clinicians with more rapid and actionable information about life threatening infections to improve patient outcomes and decrease the spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, or MDROs. OpGen’s product portfolio includes Unyvero, Acuitas AMR Gene Panel and Acuitas® Lighthouse, and the ARES Technology Platform including ARESdb, using NGS technology and AI-powered bioinformatics solutions for antibiotic response prediction.
For more information, please visit www.opgen.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes statements regarding the collaboration between Ares and Sandoz. These statements and other statements regarding OpGen’s future plans and goals constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are often difficult to predict, are beyond our control, and which may cause results to differ materially from expectations. Factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described include, but are not limited to, the success of our commercialization efforts, our ability to successfully, timely and cost-effectively develop, seek and obtain regulatory clearance for and commercialize our product and services offerings, the rate of adoption of our products and services by hospitals and other healthcare providers, the fact that we may not effectively use proceeds from recent financings, the continued realization of expected benefits of our business combination transaction with Curetis GmbH, the continued impact of COVID-19 on the Company’s operations, financial results, and commercialization efforts as well as on capital markets and general economic conditions, the effect of the military action in Russia and Ukraine on our distributors, collaborators, and service providers, our liquidity and working capital requirements, the effect on our business of existing and new regulatory requirements, and other economic and competitive factors. For a discussion of the most significant risks and uncertainties associated with OpGen’s business, please review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on our expectations as of the date of this press release and speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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